In 2009, Officer Edward Krawetz of the Lincoln Police Department
arrested Donna Levesque for unruly behavior at a Rhode Island
casino. While seated on the ground with her hands cuffed behind
her, Levesque kicked Krawetz in the shin. Krawetz responded by
cocking back his right leg and nailing Levesque in the side of the
head, knocking her over. In March 2012, Krawetz was convicted of
felony battery despite his claim that he kicked Levesque in "self
defense." The 10-year sentence he received was immediately
suspended, and Krawetz was ordered to attend anger management
classes. But he wasn't fired from the Lincoln Police Department.
Under Rhode Island law, the fate of Krawetz's job as a cop rested
not with a criminal court, or even his commanding officer, but in
the hands of a three-person panel composed of fellow police
officers--one of whom Krawetz would get to choose.

Krawetz and cops like him across the county are able to keep
their jobs and benefits—sometimes only temporarily, but always
longer than they should—thanks to model legislation written and
lobbied for by well-funded police unions. That piece of legislation
is called the Law Enforcement Bill of Rights, writes Mike Riggs,
and its sole purpose is to shield cops from the laws they're paid
to enforce.